Magical Cafe
by Ari 347
Summary: A drop-in interviewee changes Harry's life around. Draco Malfoy is just full of surprises, which Harry finds out thanks to a drunk late-night discussion.
**A/N:** Woohoo! My first HP fic! This is the result of being very bored at work when I was between projects. Hope you enjoy!

I'm debating about doing what I did with Discovery - turning it into a bunch of one shots. Any suggestions?

* * *

"Look, Harry, it's nothing personal. You're just…too busy." Ginny patted his arm gently. "You've been working so hard, what with that Muggle university thing and your café, you don't have time for me."

"Maybe in a few year, then? When everything calms down?" Harry asked desperately.

"I don't…I don't think so." She pulled her hand back and met his gaze. "I feel like we're only together because everyone expects us to be. You know, the hero and his girl. We should take some time to ourselves, see other people…"

"You've met someone, haven't you." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

Harry stood up and Ginny followed suit. "Then I guess we're done."

"Harry, I'm sorry, I – "

"It's fine. Just go."

With one last look to her childhood sweetheart, Ginny left the flat.

U_U

Harry slowly sank down on the couch. Honestly, he wasn't even that upset. They'd been together since his sixth year, almost four years now, but the spark had been gone for a long time. She was right, though. He _was_ too busy for her.

After the war Professor McGonagall had opened the school to the former seventh years so that they could finish their education. Ron elected to skip it since he and Harry had been offered positions in the Auror Academy without sitting their NEWTs. Harry, on the other hand, decided to go back. It wasn't only because Hermione was driving him up the wall (although that was definitely a factor). Hogwarts had been his home since he was eleven and he wasn't going to miss the opportunity to spend an extra year there.

During that last year Harry spent a lot of time thinking about the future. Yeah, his dad had done a brief stint as an Auror but he didn't want to spend his whole life fighting. He spent a lot of time in deep discussion with Hermione and the new Muggle Studies professor before deciding to go into business. A café, to be exact.

The idea had come to him over Christmas holidays. That year he chose to stay in Grimmauld Place with Teddy instead of going to the Burrow the entire time. Andromeda had finally pulled herself out of the depression of losing nearly her entire family but still wasn't ready to spend Christmas with her grandson. She had agreed to watch the infant over the year, but after that she wanted to travel the world. (Apparently it was a dream of hers. Harry wasn't going to question it.)

During one of Teddy's (frequent) naps (he was a very boring roommate) Harry was baking a cake while Hermione sat by the table with a giant stack of brochures from various universities. He handed her a chocolate cupcake, which she absentmindedly ate. "Harry, this is incredible!"

"Er, really?"

"Yes! You should open a café! Oh! That could be your business!"

He watched with a slight grin as she frantically searched through the mess of papers on his kitchen table. "I'm not that good, 'Mione."

"Yes you are! You'd be better than half the cafés in London! You'd be your own boss, meet new people…" She finally found what she was looking for. "Here! It's a culinary school with a business program alongside its culinary program. If you do well on your NEWTs the Ministry can use the same grades for your A levels."

"They do that?!"

"Yeah. It's mainly for Muggleborns who want to go to uni. I want to do that myself. There are tons of online resources so that you can catch up on normal Muggle classes."

"Why do you even have information for a cooking school?" Harry set the pound cake on the table and sat down. "This school looks hard."

"Harry." Hermione took his hands in hers and brown eyes met green. "You aren't dumb or lazy. You only act that way because of Ron. If you try, you can definitely do really well."

"I don't know…"

"At least consider it. For me."

"Fine. For you."

U_U

Now he was two years into the program with his own café. That had been an insane coincidence involving a spell gone awry and a duck. But that was a story for another day.

Harry stood up and stretched. No reason to cry over spilled milk. His relationship with Ginny had been going downhill for awhile and he did have work to do. A lot of work, as a matter of fact. Running the café was becoming a bit much for him and he needed someone to run it on a day to day basis. Interviews were scheduled for tomorrow. He had to be all ready for that.

U_U

"And what qualifies you to do this job, exactly?" Harry skimmed the resume in front of him. After the war (and a yelling from Hermione) he'd stopped allowing people to walk all over him and embraced his inner Slytherin. He had a sneaky feeling that if not for Draco, he would've been in Slytherin for sure.

"I was head of baking club, dance club, Future Leaders of – "

He interrupted her. "Aside from high school. Have you ever led a business? University club?"

"No…I've been in university, you know, I can't do – "

"You're in university now, correct?" Harry ignored Hannah Abbot's soft sigh and continued, "We require someone to start immediately. If you cannot run a university club how do you expect to run a full business?"

The girl stopped, her face bright red. "Excuse me? I'll have you know – "

"I think we're done here. Thank you for your time. We'll let you know in a few days either way," Harry smoothly interrupted. His face, though, said she should keep looking for some other sucker who wanted a girl still stuck in high school. "Have a good day."

The girl huffed and flounced out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, Hannah commented, "Well, that certainly went well."

"I don't get it! Why did she even apply? Her qualifications don't meet anything I put in the ads!" Harry looked over at the Hufflepuff apologetically. "Thanks for agreeing to help me out. Everyone else I knew before or inherited with the café. This is my first time hiring someone new."

"I'm glad to help. Tom is getting older, this will be good practice for when I take over the Leaky."

"Yeah, I guess. Still, thanks." He consulted the note his 'secretary' (AKA one of the counter girls) had stuck on his desk. "Looks like there's a drop in. There hasn't been a good candidate yet, so I suppose I should give this one a chance."

"True. You may as well take him in. Did Katie get a name?" Plucking the post-it from Harry's hands, Hannah inspected it with interest. "Looks like she didn't."

"Nope. It'll be a surprise."

U_U

It certainly was a surprise, Harry thought to himself, gazing at the candidate in front of him. Blonde, skinny, and still as impeccable as ever, Draco Malfoy stared right back at him. "So Mr. Malfoy, why do you think you are qualified for this job?" he asked, trying to hide how nervous he felt.

If he wasn't crazy (and if you read the Daily Prophet, you'd know their opinion on that) Malfoy appeared just as nervous as he was. "I have spent much of the last few years dabbling in various startup businesses, which you can see in detail on my resume. Most of these businesses are thriving and all of them are still in existence today."

"Your resume is definitely impressive." Hannah took the copy Harry had made for her. "I know this isn't very professional, but where have you been for the past few years?"

"Around. Trying to figure out my life."

Harry eyed him skeptically. The blonde looked wan, not like he'd been off gallivanting the country. His resume was very impressive, but… "Why do all you activities end last year? You wrote that you took a year off university, too."

"I…" Malfoy rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "I was sick, last year, and had to take the year off. I'm fine now."

"You aren't a werewolf, right?" Hannah asked. Blunt but effective. Harry had to admit, that was one of the things he loved about her.

Malfoy's eyes widened comically. "No. The Healer said something about overworking – "

"You're hired."

"What?!" Two pairs of incredulous eyes stared at him.

"If you work that well to the point that you're overworking then I want you on my team."

"But Potter, I was a Death – "

Harry fixed him with a glare. "Not by choice. And I think that everyone deserves a second chance."

"You're Dumbledore's through and through, aren't you."

"No. But I know that you only did it to save yourself and your family. I can't judge you on that."

"Oh." Draco dropped his hands in his lap. "Then…when do I start?"

"Today, if you're ready. Sometime this week otherwise." Standing, Harry shook Draco's hand. "Looking forward to working with you, Malfoy."

"Same here." The blonde hesitated before continuing, "I can start today. You can at least introduce me to the people I will be working with."

"Great. Harry, you've got your business manager, Draco, you've got a job. Looks like my work here is done. Good luck to both of you!" Hannah patted his arm and left the room.

"So…let's go, then."

U_U

Harry was surprised to find that he and Malfoy 'clicked'. Not in a romantic way, just…they worked well together. He was able to concentrate on his studies and baking while Malfoy took care of making everything run.

The thing was, they had a completely professional relationship. Once work ended, they each went their separate ways. Harry to Teddy and his online courses, Malfoy to…his life. Whatever that was.

"Oh. I didn't realize you were still here." Harry paused outside the door to Malfoy's office, seeing the other man sitting with a giant stack of paperwork. "D'you always work this late?"

"Sometimes. Depends what I'm working on." Stretching, Draco yawned. "I'll lock up when I'm finished here. You can go."

"You're not staying here all night."

"I won't. I'll be out in an hour, tops."

Harry got an idea. One that would prove Malfoy's comment about him being Dumbledore's, but whatever. "Come on. We're going out."

"What?! Potter, are you mad? I still have – "

"As your boss I give you permission to finish all that tomorrow." Grabbing his arm, Harry pulled Draco to his feet. "You're not working tonight."

Draco glared at him. "And what if I had plans for tonight?"

"Do you?"

"No…not really."

"Then you're coming with me. Luna's babysitting Teddy and there's this great new ba I know of in Diagon Alley."

"Fine."

U_U

Draco reflected, later, that he'd never been quite so drunk in his life. Not to the point of his boundaries being this low. His head was resting on Harry's arm. At some point they'd wound up in Grimmauld Place. Which was, surprisingly, not decorated in obnoxious reds and golds. Instead it was decorated in browns and warm tans, giving it a homey feel.

"Hey, Malfoy?"

"Hmm?" He shifted so that he was facing the Boy Who Lived.

Harry looked down into his bottle of beer. Until then Draco hadn't known it was even possible to get that drunk on beer. "Do you ever feel stuck? Used up?"

"Used up how? Like we've already done everything?"

"Yeah." The dark haired man rubbed his eyes. "I just feel like we've reached our peak. We've won a war, saved an entire world. What else is there to do?"

Draco sprawled across the remainder of the couch. The beer had created a pleasant buzz, one that allowed him to be more honest with Potter than he'd ever been with anyone before even himself. "You have Teddy and the café, you know. And even if the She-Weasel broke up with – "

"You can't believe everything the Prophet says!"

He smoothly raised one perfect eyebrow. "So you two are still together?"

Harry deflated. "No. She broke up with me."

"You'll find someone else and populate the world with little Potterlings. Now me, on the other hand…" Showing a side he'd never revealed to Harry before, Draco let out an appropriately dramatic sigh. "I've already got money, I've succeeded in business. What am I lacking?"

"A life. A family." Harry slumped in his seat. "I have Teddy, but I still…I still want my own children."

"How's he doing, by the way? I never see him. I feel weird just showing up and popping into his life."

"Don't feel that way. You should come with us to the ice cream store tomorrow." Yawning, Harry looked over at him. "He's good. I think. I mean, he's only three and a half, but he seems happy."

"That's good."

"Yeah." They fell silent, each in his own little bubble of thought. "Malfoy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if not for Voldemort?"

Draco gave him a sideways look, not sure where this was going. "All the time."

"What do you think would have happened?" Harry gazed into his beer, a pensive look on his face. "I'd have my parents. Sirius. Remus."

"I think we'd still have been enemies. Your father and Sirius sounded like they were the ultimate Gryffindors. My father is the ultimate Slytherin." Running a hand through his blonde hair, Draco stared unseeingly at the low table. "But your life would have been completely different. You'd have a family. Who knows, maybe we'd both have siblings."

"Wait, you're an only child…?"

"Because my father was cursed by Voldemort and my mother is faithful to him." He set his glass on the table carefully. Right now he was drunk enough that he didn't trust himself to place the cup _on_ the table instead of beside it, on thin air. "I would've married Astoria Greengrass for sure. You would've married Weaselette."

Harry shook his head. "No, Ginny was only into me because of the whole Boy Who Lived thing. It was only later that she got to know me."

"Oh. Well, you're a free man now. You can date whomever you want."

"So can you."

"Sadly, there isn't a plethora of women dying to date an ex-Death Eater." Draco slid farther into the couch. "This is the most socializing I've done outside my parents and close friends since…since Hogwarts."

"I don't think you're so bad. You're pretty nice. Good company drunk."

Gray eyes met green. "Really? You aren't just saying that?"

"I don't just say things. I either mean it or I don't say it."

"Oh." They fell silent again, but this time they slowly drifted off to sleep.


End file.
